Falling
by seward907
Summary: Funny, how can much can happen in a few short minutes   Just a short One-Shot from Tophs point of view. A little bit of Taang in there.


**(A/N Hey guys I know what you're thinking: "What happened to Finding You?" Well, no worries the next chapter is almost finished, and this is only a one-shot. I just needed a little variety in what I write about. The next chapter to "Finding You" will be out before the weeks over. I promise.**

**For THIS Story I just wanted to briefly explain that I haven't read much Taang stories and I didn't really like the ones that I read. They were a bit too OOC to me. So I took things into my own hands and wrote a quick one-shot. It's not too much about "I love you" It's just little childish things. I mean, they _are_ only twelve. So I hope you like it!)**

A lot can happen within the space of a few seconds. I mean, if you think about it, it seems impossible. Almost unconsciously you notice time moving one second at a time. Those become minutes, which become hours which in turn, become days. So little can happen in a large amount of time. For instance, the countless number of weeks it takes for something incredibly interesting to happen.

The gaang moves in a constant pattern. Day to day, week to week, and yet not anything significant has happened for a while. It is a circle that consists of sleeping, eating, training, and traveling. And it's funny how something so significant, happens in a miniscule amount of time.

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Flying.

I hate it.

I hate a number of things. Like how people can treat you strong in one second, and then sympathize my "weakness" the next. I hate how people dance around certain subjects of conversation, and manipulate people to get something that they could have gotten if they simply came out and asked. I hate war. It is meaningless and caused by people who should never have gotten so much power in the first place. I hate being pitied, because I think of myself as strong, and absolutely awesome, but I wish others could recognize this. I hate water too.

But flying, makes me sick. Those other things make me sick mentally. This makes me sick physically. I am an earth bender and more connected to my element than others. I am in tune with it, and it was always _there_ in ways no one else could be. Humans are a fickle race. And being one myself I of course blame the rest of humanity for not being more like me. People change, and sometimes they forget not only that I'm there, but that I have always been there. I am like the earth. We're solid and constant. Earth will always be there when I need it. Except of course, when I am flying.

No, especially when I am _falling_.

We were above a forest when it happened. I only know this because I could recognize the smell of pine from below us. We were flying low, and fast. Apparently Azula and her two cohorts were on our tail. By the constant sound of Sokka's voice calling to Aang "Go faster!" We were losing the race. Five days in a row had worn Appa out. All I could think of was how ironic this was.

We stopped in a village for much longer than necessary and Snoozles was complaining that we were _not_ on schedule. We were very much behind it. So, his "ingenious" plan was that instead of letting Appa rest after two days of flying (the normal schedule) we would skip his next allotted time for resting and keep on flying therefore bringing us back to where we should be in his schedule.

As you can tell, it completely backfired.

So Appa is going on five days without a good long, rest. This, of course seems to be the day where the universe wanted us to crash, or as it turned out in the end, wanted me to crash. Anyway, we were flying pretty close to the ground when Katara lets it slip that we're flying too low. Aang, who has been flying all night, replies that flying higher would use too much of Appa's energy. He's always taking care of the bison. If only he said something about Appa's health when Sokka suggested not giving him any resting times!

But there was no more time for thinking about 'what ifs' because the Fire princess decided to play nasty. One moment, I was beginning to get annoyed at the wind because we were moving so fast and it was chilling my nose to a freezing temperature. The next I wished with all my might that the wind came back because a huge fire ball flew so close to us, I think I could have reached out and touched it if I had wanted to. The heat was fierce and angry, and it was at that time that I choose to speak up. "Twinkle toes I don't care if Appa falls asleep up there, you need to bring us higher!"

And with that, I heard Aang yell the words "Yip-yip" And we were going up. We were perpendicular to the horizon as far as I could tell. I clung to the seat and felt the shift of gravity pull me a completely new direction.

It was stupid really that I lost my grip. I told Aang to pull Appa up anyways so I really had no one to blame but myself. I remember Katara yelling name, and the brush of Sokka's fingers on my arm as a last ditch attempt to stop me from falling. But it was useless. I thought of all the ways that I could touch the earth again in a wonderful, returning home, sort of way. I remember longing for the next time I would touch the earth again. This is not what I meant.

And these are the few moments that change my point of view about a certain person.

I do the first thing that comes to mind. I scream. I feel brief amounts of moisture collect on my skin which I guess is from clouds. I am usually proud of being blind, and how much I accomplish because of it. But I wish I had some semblance to sight right now because I don't know how far away the ground is. Or how close it is. I have no way to tell which seconds of my life will be my last.

My mind flashes to the past, and what I have done in my life. I am glad I find no regrets. So while I let out a last scream, for I am scared of death (I _am_ only twelve), I only make a plea with the spirits that Aang is successful in his journey to save the world.

But suddenly, I feel arms wrap around my body.

"It's okay Toph, I gotcha." Aang's reassuring voice tells me. As soon as I recognize it is my friend saving me, and not the arms of death that come to take me away, I hold onto him tightly, with everything that I have. I scramble to latch myself onto him in every way possible. I wrap my small legs around his waist and close my arms in a complete circle around his neck, so thankful that I was not going to die, because I knew Aang would save me.

I felt one of his arms let go of me, and I panic shortly, but stop when I realize he's bending. And then it's like I'm being pulled upwards. We slow down and finally my senses (which I am not completely sure I can trust right now) tell me we are descending slowly.

I don't release my death-grip just in case. And for a moment, nothing in the world exists except Aang. I feel the steady beat of his heart, racing just a bit, and the toned muscle of his arm he had around me. At least he hasn't been a total slacker in training I think briefly.

I am a bit jealous of how at home he seems in mid-air. I rely so heavily on things I can touch and feel. For goodness sake, Aang is the only thing I can feel right now and am clutching him so tightly, I don't think even the spirits could pry me off of him.

Funny, how I have completely forgotten about needing comfort of earth at this moment.

Suddenly, I know we are on the ground again, and I breathe a sigh of relief. I hesitate a moment to let go of the only life line I had a moment ago, but I do, because it would be just weird if I kept hanging onto him like a scared little girl. Plus, Aang gave a small awkward "cough" which meant that it was probably time to let go.

I step away from him, and shaky legs, and clasped to the ground, digging my fingers into the soil. I felt at home here, if a bit wet. It must have been a cloudy day today. I feel my hair against my back, and I know I have lost the things that kept my hair up somewhere between here and Appa. My hair reaches my waist, and I know that when I see Katara I'm going to have trouble keeping her away from trying to "stylize" it like she always hinted she's wanted.

"Are you okay?" Aang calls to me. He sits beside me waiting for my answer.

I am so very grateful for him then. Not only for saving my life, but for giving me a chance to live it when he asked me to come with him back in Gao-ling. My student, and friend, and now savior. I wanted to do something stupid like give him a hug. I could punch him in the shoulder I guess, but I hardly think that's the best way to say thank you. So before anyone can come and witness this, I tap my fingers on the ground to pinpoint his position, and lean in to give him a small kiss on the cheek.

I remember when I was littler and I took to spying on the children my mom thought would be good playmates for me. They were the spoiled, snooty type of kids, and they always hung out in the shade of the garden. Foolish, there are so many places to hide in the garden. This was before I realized that they really had nothing interesting to talk about of course. But when I listened I discovered that they were reading a book. I was curious since I had never read a book, and never would. I listened to them read to each other. It was a book about Princes and Princesses. In the book, the Prince saved the Princess and she 'rewarded' him with a kiss. So in this short amount of time, my instincts resorted back to that fairy-tale.

"Thanks Aang." I said quickly following the kiss. I felt him shift positions and he didn't talk for a while.

Finally he answered "What happened to the punching thing?"

"Would you like me to punch you?" I said angrily. I didn't want to talk about it, I was embarrassed enough as it was.

"No don't punch me, I was just surprised that's all." He said in reply. "I'm not complaining." He said. I paused, contemplating his words. "N-not that I want to not complain," He stuttered out realizing what his words implicated.

"Yeah" I agreed. This was getting worse by the minute.

Suddenly we were saved by continual awkwardness when I felt Appa's huge vibration through the ground.

"You're alright!" Katara yelled from the saddle.

"Come on you guys, we don't' exactly have time to waste." Sokka's voice came from somewhere near Katara's.

I stood up and brushed my hair behind my shoulder. I was about to earth bend myself on to the saddle, Aang suddenly appeared by my side, and I felt a soft warmth on my left cheek. "You're welcome." He said cheerfully, before he hopped back onto Appa's head.

And then I couldn't look at him the same ever since those few minutes in time.


End file.
